Poor Man's Ipod Blues

I finally broke down and spent 100 bucks on the cheapest possible ipod--the shuffle. So I figured I'd set it up w/ K's computer--it runs on the most up to date operating system in the house. and so I put a bunch of my cds in and put the programs on but when I plugged the ipod in, it wouldn't work. Then I discovered I needed at least OS X 10.3.4, whatever that is. But it's not available anywhere and tiger's another 120 bucks. 120 bucks to get the 100 dollar ipod to work! I can't even afford the ipod. But it's so little and light and beautiful and I spent all that time putting music in that I was eager to listen to on my hour-each-way-daily-commute. now all my plans are dashed. woe is me.